Contents

"Paula, get the paprika!" Carol ordered as she rushed across the kitchen.

"Yes, ma'am." Paula replied.

"The party's tonight, people, pick up the pace!" Carol stopped for a second to look at a picture on the wall. It was the Greene family. She smiled as she looked at Hershel sitting at the table next to Maggie, Beth, Shawn, and Annette.

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said. Us losing our humanity."

Erin parked the car close to a cliff. "Wow." Beth said.

"I told you this place was cool. You get a view of the entire city."

"If only it wasn't rotting." Beth said.

"Yeah." Erin said before kissing Beth. They had to stop when a walker started beating on the window. They both groaned. "I'll get it." Beth said.

Beth readied her bow while Erin rolled down the window. The walker stuck its hands in but Beth shot it. Erin pushed it out and rolled up the window.

"We just killed those guys. They were cannibals, but...they were still people. And we just tore them apart. And then that man, Negan. He looked like...he looked like our future, Hershel. I don't wanna become that. We don't want to become that."

Andrea was leading several Alexandrians through the streets. They had finally seen a walker. "Alright, Barbara, you go first." Andrea said.

"I don't know..." she said.

"Come on, you can do this." Andrea assured her. Barbara stepped closer with her pistol raised.

The walker came at her. She screamed, "Andrea!"

"You can do this-"

The walker had gotten her. The Alexandrians all gasped as the walker tore into Barbara's neck. Andrea shook her head as she got out her gun. She killed the walker and put Barbara down.

"Lee, let us take him in the forest and say our good byes. Then you can..." Katjaa couldn't finish before crying again.

Kenny remained silent. They both walke towards the forest.

They heard a gunshot and a scream. "Katjaa!"

"Watch Clem, Chuck!" Lee ordered before he ran in quickly with his pistol drawn.

Chuck was a man who was living inside of the train when they had found it. Clementine began to cry. "It's okay. You're gonna have to get used to it. It's gonna happen to all of us. Even me. Even you." Chuck said depressingly.

Andrea had made it back to the safe-zone with Barbara's body and the other Alexandrians. "What the hell happened?" Michonne asked.

"Just a training mission gone wrong." Andrea said.

"You let her die!" Nicholas shouted.

"She wasn't strong enough!" Andrea shouted back.

"Andrea!" Michonne scolded. Andrea backed off.

"I'm sorry." she told them.

"Sorry? Barbara's dead!" Spencer shouted.

"Spencer!" Douglas had arrived. "This was a very tragic accident!" he told them. "We all need to mourn Barbara. But it was an accident. Don't turn on each other like animals!" he calmed down before continuing. "Father Gabriel will hold a funeral tomorrow."

"Why not tonight?" Olivia asked.

"The party's tonight. Just try to forget about this and worry about it tomorrow." Douglas told them.

They had all broken apart and walked in separate directions. Andrea and Michonne remained. Tyreese walked up to them. "What the hell happened here?"

"An accident." Michonne said with a dirty look towards Andrea.

Tyreese passed by Rick on his way to the kitchens. "Hey, Rick." he greeted.

"Hey. I got something to do right now, sorry." Rick said.

"That's alright." Tyreese said before continuing on to the kitchens. He walked in there to see several people (Eugene included) setting tables across the large room. Tyreese went into the kitchen to see Carol standing over the oven with a mitt on. It beeped and she pulled the cake out.

"Oh, hi, Tyreese." she said.

"Hey, Carol. Need any help?"

"No that's fine."

"I haven't really gotten to do anything because of my arm. All I do is roam around all day with nothin to do."

"You could teach the "close-up and personal" class like Andrea does with shooting."

"Yeah, right. Somebody just got killed by one walker today even though she had a gun."

"Oh my god, that's horrible."

"Yeah, it is. If we ever get attacked, half the town is gonna be unprepared."

"We'll be alright. Want some cake?"

"Nah, I'm fine. That's nice." he said while pointing at the Greene photo.

"Oh. I got that while we were escaping the farm when the herd had shown up. Hershel's family...Beth's the only one left. Odd that she's one of the more cheerful in our little group."

"I think she'll outlive us all." Tyreese said.

Carol laughed. "Against Carl?"

A walker landed in the alley. "Nice one." Heath said.

"It was easy." Carl said.

"Why not do it now?!" a loud, threatening voice asked. Carl and Heath ducked down as the people in the streets argued.

"Because they'll be more off their guard at night." another one said.

"What if they turn out to be tough, Derek?" another one questioned.

"They're not. It'll be easy to take down those pathetic people. Anyone safe behind a wall is an idiot. It makes you soft." Derek said.

Clementine sat down with her legs dangling out of the train. Lee walked into the boxcar to speak to her. "Clementine...Duck and Katjaa are both dead." he told her sadly.

"What happened to Katjaa?"

"She gave up. She couldn't live without her son."

"It's okay. We're all gonna die one day."

"Clem...we need to talk."

"What do you mean?"

"Your hair. We need to cut it. Something could grab it and try to hurt you. You also need to learn how to shoot. And we need to plan out what we're gonna do when we get to Savanna."

"Okay."

Lee proceeded to cut her hair as they discussed what to do in Savanna. Clementine insisted that they look for her parents who were in Savanna when everything started. Lee told her that they need to help Kenny look for a boat.

"But we can look for my parents, too."

Lee shrugged. He knew that they had to be dead. "Okay. We'll look for them."

"They stayed at this place called the Marsh House."

Lee stopped cutting her hair. "All done. See, you still look as pretty as ever! Now we gotta practice your shooting."

They both stood up. Lee gave her a pistol. "It's heavy." she said.

"You'll get used to it." Lee assured her as he pulled an empty bottle out and set it on top of a box.

Lee got behind her. "Go ahead." he said.

She raised her arms, pointing the weapon. "Make sure your elbows are bent." he said as he helped her relax her arms. "Don't get nervous. You don't want your hands shaking."

She fired and missed the bottle. "Good try. Aim just a little lower this time. Now focus. No monster can ever hurt you as long as you stay focused."

Clementine took a deep breath. She pulled the trigger and the bottle exploded.

Rick and Michonne had been patrolling every day since they got there. They both wore green police garb. "I'm worried about Andrea." Michonne said.

"It was just and accident. But I can see what you mean. I think we're all having some trouble..."

"What do you mean?"

"The cannibals. We just tore them apart, Michonne."

"They were trying to kill us!"

"But what we did-what we did was inhuman."

"And what do you suppose we do about that? What's done is done."

"I don't know, Michonne. I just...I just don't know." Rick pointed at a brunette woman walking across the street with her son. "You see her?"

"Jessie? What about her?"

"She's got a bruise on her left cheek. That alone makes me want to go murder her husband. I don't even want to investigate, I just wanna kill."

Michonne repeated herself. "And what do you suppose that you do?"

And Rick repeated himself, too. "I don't know."

Heath and Carl ran up to them. "Dad, there are guys planning I attack tonight!" he blurted out while he was catching his breath.

Rick and Michonne's eyes both turned dark as they thought over what terrible things they would do next.

Abraham had been working at the construction site all day. Walkers appeared out of nowhere and attacked Holly. She fell over and crawled backwards as they pursued.

"Get in phalanx formation!" Tobin shouted. Tobin, Bruce, Chase, and Kelly all huddled together an started firing of rounds.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Abraham shouted. He grabbed a long, metal pole from the ground and ran towards the walkers. He brought Holly up before slashing through two walkers with ease.

"Woah." Bruce said. All of their eyes grew wide as Abraham kicked another walker down as he drove his pole through another. He jumped on top of an old bulldozer as he shot another one. He pulled out his dagger and threw it. It went straight into another walker's brain.

Eight walkers remained. Holly took out a crowbar an helped him. She took out two while Abraham shot another one. The five walkers were torn as to which one they should attack. Abraham jumped down, plunging the pole so deep into one of their skulls that he couldn't pull it back up. Holly pushed one down before bashing another walker's head. Abraham stomped on the head of the walker that had been pushed down and killed it. They both raised their gun and shot the remaining one at the same time. The lifeless body turned completely around twice before tumbling over.

Holly smiled while Abraham looked at the rest of the group with hatred. "What the hell is a phalanx?!"

Lee sat next to Clementine as the train kept moving. "Son of a bitch!" they heard Kenny shout as the train came to an abrupt stop. They had all gotten off the train to see a car sitting in their way. They had stopped next to a forest. "Woah!" Clementine exclaimed as she looked on. Lee turned to see a large prison overrun with walkers.

"It would be nice to stay there. After clearing the walkers. No way we could pull that off though..."

"Lee, can you help me with this?" Kenny asked in a sad, depressed voice. His eyes were bloodshot.

"Sure." Lee said.

Chuck walked over to the car. "You don't have to do that, I'll get it." he said to Kenny.

"Thanks." Kenny said before going back to the train.

"Hey, people." A man said as he and a woman came out of the forest.

"Howdy." Chuck greeted them.

"Who are you guys?" the woman interrogated.

"My name's Lee, this is Chuck. That's Clementine over there. And Kenny's in the train right now." Lee told them.

"I'm Crista. This is Omid." the woman said.

Lee had to ask. "Can we trust you?" he asked.

"Can we trust you?" Crista asked right back.

"Holy shit! Look at that!" Omid exclaimed while marveling at the prison.

"You guys staying here?" Crista asked.

"No. We're trying to get to Savanna. We're taking the train."

"You can drive that thing?!" Omid continued to be amazed.

"Would you chill out?" Crista questioned him. "Here. We can help you with that." she said as they both helped Lee and Chuck move the car out of the way. Lee got a closer look at Crista.

The party had started. All of the Alexandrians were packed into the house. Carol had gotten extremely drunk. She had been telling stories to all of the people for half an hour. "...so then, when they run up to get the walker, it turns out to be Daryl! He's got rotted ears around his neck and blood all over him! Then Andrea goes and shoots him!" she laughed while the rest gasped. Carol took another gulp of wine. "But he lived." They all felt relieved.

Paula tapped Michonne on the shoulder. "Hey, Michonne, I was wondering what kind of food you liked?"

"Whatever." she replied.

"Oh but there must be something."

"It's fine, Paula, really."

"Oh good! I was so worried that I would cook something you wouldn't like."

"This is what you worry about?" Michonne just rolled her eyes and walked away.

Andrea, Lilly, Beth, and Erin were all standing on the balcony outside. They were all heavily drunk. "Well, Erin, welcome to the sharpshooters' club." Andrea said as she raised her glass.

They all drank. "I guess that makes you club president." Lilly said to Andrea.

They all laughed. "Clementine still not talking to you?" Andrea asked Lilly.

"Yeah. Everybody still giving you crap for this morning?"

They both drank. Beth and Erin had already started kissing again. "Well, that's our queue to leave." Andrea said before her and Lilly both left them on the balcony.

Rick and Abraham were both talking by the punch. "We haven't really talked much about this, but, what do you think out chances are if we get attacked?" Rick asked.

"Realistically? This place is screwed."

Rick whispered, "What if I told you we were getting attacked tonight?"

Abraham glared at him. "I'd ask why we were standing here."

Tyreese, Michonne, Rosita, and Eugene were all standing by the kitchen. "There are people comin'." Michonne said before drinking.

"What?" Tyreese questioned.

"Carl and Heath ran up talking about some punks that wanna sack this joint."

"How drunk are you?" Rosita asked.

"Very."

"Well, why are we just standing around here, then?" Eugene questioned.

"'Cause Rick said so." Michonne told them.

Douglas approached them. "Enjoying yourselves?" he asked.

"Yeah. Haven't been this relaxed in forever." Michonne said.

"That's more literal than you know..." Tyreese said.

Rick saw Jessie arguing with her husband, Pete. He began shouting. "I told you to go get it!"

"What are you doing?" Jessie questioned hysterically. Everyone followed as Rick drug him to the backyard. He threw him down and started beating him. "Stop! Stoppit! You're killing him!" Jessie shouted.

Clementine was asleep in the corner. Her and Lee had been keeping Kenny company while he conducted. "She's out like a rock." Lee said.

"Yeah." Kenny said while smiling. They could see Savanna. "Things are finally looking up." Kenny said.

Clementine's walkie-talkie came on. "I can see the train, Clementine. I'll get you away from Lee soon!"

"What the hell?" they both said at the same time. Lee picke up the walkie-talkie but the man had already stopped talking.

"Oh man..." Kenny said.

"Who is this?" Lee interrogated.

The voice became cold this time. "You must be Lee."

"Yeah."

"You don't have to worry about Clementine anymore. She's mine now."

Lee was about to respond when Kenny's eyes grew wide. Several cars stood in there way. The train hit them one by one, shaking back and forth. Clementine woke up and they all fell over. The train derailed and Lee's eyes closed and all he saw was black.

"Carol!" Tyreese was shocked. Jessie cried but said nothing. Ron had fallen to his dead father's side. "Daddy!" he cried.

"Do something!" Nicholas shouted at Douglas. But Douglas didn't know what to do. He was speechless.

Rick patted Carol on the back. "It's okay." he said.

BLAM!

They all fell silent. "Come out now! Give up everything!" They heard Derek shouting from the front side of the house. Lilly stayed put. Rick, Andrea, Carl, Michonne, Abraham, Tyreese, and Carol all went back inside. They walked through the house with weapons and hatred. They all stood at the door.

Derek looked at them with a scowl. "In order to give up everything you actually have to have everything with you" he said. The Alexandrians all watched. Rick walked straight up to Derek. "What are you-" Rick shot Derek in the face. Before the rest of the scavengers could do anything, the others had already raised their guns.

"Please. You don't have do this." one of them pleaded as they all knelt to the ground.

"I'm not the one doin' it." Rick said before stepping out of the way and the others fired. All of the scavengers fell over dead, executed.

The Alexandrians all stood there, shocked at the group's ruthlessness. Clementine clutched Lilly's arm. Lilly tried her best to contain he happiness.

Rick turned to all of them. "Party's over." he said before walking off. Andrea and Carl followed him.

"Help me get these bodies out of the way." Abraham said to Michonne.

Carol walked inside. "Eugene, Rosita, could you help me clean up all this?" she asked.

"Yeah." Rosita replied.

"Of coarse." Eugene said.

One of the bodies started moving when Michonne and Abraham grabbed it. Tyreese kicked it over an bashed its head in with his hammer.

Rick, Andrea, and Carl made it to the house. Carl immeditately went upstairs. Rick had just noticed Andrea was there. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Rick had awoken to see Andrea putting her clothes back on. "Where're you goin'?" he asked.

Andrea looked back with a smile. "You've never done this before, have you?"

Rick didn't comprehend. Andrea sighed. "It was a one-time thing, okay? We did a lot of shit last night and this was a way of...coping."

"Andrea..."

"I don't wanna hear it right now. We got stuff to do, anyway." she said before getting up and leaving.

Douglas passed her as she was leaving. Rick had already gotten up and started putting on his clothes. "Oh, hey." he said.

Douglas got to the point quickly. "I want you to lead the funeral."

"What? Why?"

"In fact, I want you to be the new leader of this community."

"What? I told you that I wasn't good at that. Now way."

"What I did yesterday was stupid an reckless! Someone died and I threw a party! No one on watch! I'd already known about Pete. He'd been beating Jessie for months and I just ignored it! You are the one who said we needed a lookout. You were the one who taught Pete a lesson. You were the one who did not hesitate when the enemy arrived at our doorstep. And I...I'm the one who told our lookout to go get drunk at a party!"

Douglas had sat on the couch with his palms on his forehead. Rick consoled him. "Fine. I'll do the funeral thing. But I'm not gonna be the leader." Rick grabbed his Colt Python and walked out.

Lilly was getting her rifle when she heard a knock at the door. She opened the door to see Clementine and another man. "Hey, Lilly, this is Chuck." Clementine said.

"Oh. Hi. I knew your name but I don't think we've been formerly introduced." Lilly said before shaking hands with him.

"Clementine just wanted to come by and say hi." Chuck said.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go to work." Lilly said.

"That's okay. I can go with you." Clementine said.

Lilly looked at Chuck. He nodded. "Okay. You can come. But it's pretty boring."

Lilly shut the door and Clementine followed her.

On her way out. She saw Erin and Beth packing their car. "Where are you guys going?"

"You know, the usual. Go look for people even though we probably won't find any, kill some walkers, make out..."

"Oh. Have fun." Lilly said.

Another woman with short, blonde hair walked up to them. "Mind if I come? I'm not one or funerals." she said.

"Sure. They never did get around to getting you a job, did they?" Erin asked.

"Clementine!" Lee shouted out as they all walked down the streets of Savanna. Molly appeared out of nowhere and tackled Lee. She raised her ice pick but the rest had already pointed their pistols at her head.

"Don't even think about it." Kenny said.

Molly backed off. "Who are you?" Lee interrogated as he got up.

"Name's Molly. Are you from Crawford?"

"Crawford?" Lee asked.

"Guess I should've asked first. Who are you guys?"

"Hold on, you just tried to kill my friend!" Kenny exclaimed.

"Why did you do it?" Crista asked.

"I thought you guys were from Crawford. It's this walled off community full of psychos." Molly told them.

"You mean there's a town full of people around here?" Lee asked.

"Don't even think about going. And it's not a whole town, just a small part of Savanna. They'd kill grandpa here just because he's old. Same for if any of you have an illness."

"Damn." Kenny said.

"Do they kidnap children?" Lee asked.

"The opposite, actually. They don't "keep" children if you know what I mean." Molly said.

"Have you seen a little girl?" Lee asked.

"No. Did you lose someone?" Molly asked.

"Yeah. Some psycho started talking through her walkie-talkie, then she disappeared." Kenny said.

Everyone was gathered in the church for Barbara's funeral. Father Gabriel had just finished speaking. "Rest in peace." he said before joining the crowd.

Douglas nodded to Rick. He shrugged, but he went up to the pedestal.

He paused there as they all looked at him. He began reluctantly. "This has happened a lot. Death. It'll happen many times after this. It's happenin' right now. Somewhere. But that doesn't mean we should get used to it. Maybe it's too late, though. Maybe, maybe we're already too far gone. But even if we are, I won't except it. Hershel wouldn't except it. And you shouldn't either. This world is hard, relentless, harsh, unforgiving. And it will be for years to come. But if we can just keep going, maybe it will be like it was again.

Lee reached to pick up the walkie-talkie. A walker jumped from behind the garbage can and bit his wrist. Lee stomped its head in an instant. He stared at his wrist. "No, no, no. Oh shit. No...no..." he muttered.

(End Credits)

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The poll was created at 21:27 on April 22, 2013, and so far 5 people voted.